


no place like you

by eddiesdiaz



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Babysitting, Christopher Diaz Has Two Dads, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Kid Fic, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Soft Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), featuring Madney's baby Evan :')
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:13:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25978003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eddiesdiaz/pseuds/eddiesdiaz
Summary: Eddie’s not sure exactly what he’s expecting when he gets a 911 text from Buck asking him to come over, but given Buck’s track record, he may or may not panic a little.Okay, fine, he panics a lot. He has Christopher scooped up and loaded into the truck within two minutes of receiving the text, both of them still in their pajamas.Eddie’s vaguely aware of the sound of a baby crying as he unlocks the door to the loft with shaking hands, but it doesn’t click in his head until he gets the door open and finds Buck, pacing around the room with his screaming nephew in his arms.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 52
Kudos: 660
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	no place like you

**Author's Note:**

> Read on [Tumblr](https://eddiesdiaz.tumblr.com/post/623380226973614080)

Eddie’s not sure exactly what he’s expecting when he gets a 911 text from Buck asking him to come over, but given Buck’s track record, he may or may not panic a little.

Okay, fine, he panics a lot.

He has Christopher scooped up and loaded into the truck within two minutes of receiving the text, both of them still in their pajamas. He’s slightly terrified of taking Chris with him — his worst case scenario brain is picturing the two of them walking in to find Buck bleeding out on the floor of his apartment — but he’s not willing to waste any time dropping him off with someone else.

Eddie’s vaguely aware of the sound of a baby crying as he unlocks the door to the loft with shaking hands, but it doesn’t click in his head until he gets the door open and finds Buck, pacing around the room with his screaming nephew in his arms.

“Oh, Eddie, thank god,” he says, looking up at him with wide, frantic eyes.

Eddie lets out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, and then he’s panting, chest heaving, trying to reconcile his brain out of the sheer _terror_ it’s been feeling in the twenty minutes it took to get to Buck.

“I think we need to talk about what constitutes an emergency, Buck,” Eddie tells him once he’s confident his voice won’t shake. “You scared the hell out of me.”

Buck at least has the decency to look apologetic. “Sorry, Eds. This _is_ an emergency, though. Maddie and Chim trusted me, and he’s perfect and I love him so much and he’s breaking my heart because he won’t stop crying and I don’t know what he _needs_.”

He sounds desperate, hurt, like he’s in literal physical pain watching the upset kid in his arms. Eddie softens immediately, because he’s all too familiar with that feeling. It’s overwhelming and all-consuming in a way nothing else is.

“Hey, Buck, it’s okay. Take a breath for me, okay?” Eddie tells him softly.

He reaches out and takes baby Evan from him (Buck had cried for _days_ when Maddie told him what they wanted to name him), kissing his head and rocking him gently.

As soon as Buck has his hands free, he goes straight for Chris. He hugs him tight, taking deep breaths as instructed, and Eddie’s heart squeezes in his chest at the fact that his son reassures Buck, grounds him when he’s on the verge of breaking.

“It’s okay, Bucky,” Chris tells him, taking Buck’s face in his little hands when they finally let go of each other. “Babies are hard.”

Buck huffs out a laugh at that, and Eddie can’t help but smile. It’s one of his favorite sounds in the world.

“Yeah, they are, buddy,” Buck agrees, ruffling Chris’ hair fondly as he looks back to Eddie. “Can you just look him over and make sure he’s okay? I don’t want to have to tell Mads I broke her baby on her first night away from him.”

Eddie obliges and does a quick exam, all the while trying to soothe Evan enough to make the crying subside, but to no avail.

“Everything looks good, Buck. He’s perfect, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Eddie says, because he’s long since learned that’s always Buck’s biggest fear. “I think he probably just misses his parents. Don’t you, Evan?”

That answer doesn’t seem to make Buck feel any better, though. “So he’s just gonna cry all night and there’s nothing I can do about it?” he asks warily.

“Maybe not,” Eddie says. “Did Maddie leave you his car seat?”

“No, but I bought my own,” Buck answers, because of course he did.

“Perfect. Come on, boys, time for a field trip.”

Once they’re all buckled into the Jeep, Buck looks over at Eddie expectantly. “Where are we going?”

Eddie shrugs. “Anywhere. Nowhere. Doesn’t matter, just drive.”

Buck looks at him skeptically, but he obeys anyway. He always does what Eddie asks, without hesitation.

After just a few minutes of driving around and Chris cooing and making faces at the baby, the crying finally stops. Eddie’s ears are ringing a little, but the silence is bliss — even more so for Buck, who looks like he could cry in relief.

“Oh my god, Eddie, you’re a genius,” he says, shooting Eddie a grateful smile.

“Yeah, something about the movement calms them down,” Eddie tells him. “I wasn’t really around much when Chris was a baby, but Shannon used to do it a lot. She’d call me from the car and put me on speaker so I could talk to him.”

Eddie doesn’t talk about Shannon often, but it’s easier with Buck. With everyone else, he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t — if he says something nice about her, he gets pitied for being a sad, lonely widower, and if he says something bad about her, he gets painted as an asshole who bashes his dead wife. But Buck just listens, without judgment, to the good and the bad.

“That’s really sweet,” Buck says, his smile going softer. “Hey, I’m sorry, by the way. For having a full-on meltdown, and for dragging you into it.”

“Don’t worry about it, man. It happens to the best of us. You wanna talk about why it freaked you out so bad?”

“I don’t know,” Buck answers with a sigh. “I just…I’m supposed to be awesome Uncle Buck, and I just felt like I was failing, you know? And I couldn’t handle letting another kid down. Not after…”

Buck trails off, glancing at Chris in the rear view mirror, and Eddie’s not having any of that. He turns the radio up a little so Chris won’t overhear them (not that he’s even listening; he’s completely captivated by the baby) and looks over at Buck.

“You didn’t let Chris down, and you’re not letting Evan down. You really need to start giving yourself more credit, Buck,” Eddie tells him.

“Yeah, but—“

“No, listen, I’m serious,” he interrupts. “You’re gonna be an amazing uncle. You know how I know? Because you’re already an amazing parent to my kid. I know it, and Chris knows it, and I need you to get it through your head.”

Buck, for his part, looks completely blindsided. “I…You think I’m a parent to Chris?”

“Yeah, Buck. You are.”

Eddie’s not expecting Buck to believe him, if he’s honest. He’s said it a million times before — though not in those specific words — and Buck’s warped sense of self worth gets in the way every time. No matter what people tell him, it’s like it’s ingrained into his very being that he’s not enough, that he doesn’t matter. Eddie’s never stopped trying, and he never will, but he’s long since accepted that Buck may never be able to see himself how everyone else does.

Apparently, though, _I consider you a father to my son_ are the magic words Eddie’s been looking for to finally chip away at the feelings of inadequacy and inferiority wrapped around Buck like a straitjacket. If Eddie had known, he would have said it a hell of a lot sooner; he’s been thinking it for months, but he was afraid the implications would reveal too much.

He can literally see the tension drain from Buck’s body. He looks lighter, like a weight’s been lifted off his shoulders — well, maybe not lifted entirely. More like it’s been _shifted_ , like he’s letting Eddie bear some of it with him.

“Thank you, Eddie,” Buck says softly, voice thick with emotion. “I love him like he’s my own, you know.”

“I know you do. And he is your own, in all the ways that matter,” Eddie answers with a smile.

Buck’s grinning for the rest of the car ride, easy and unapologetic.

They stop for ice cream at Christopher’s request. Evan sleeps through most of it, thankfully, and the woman behind them in line makes a comment about what a beautiful family they are that has both Eddie _and_ Buck blushing.

“Hey, Buck?” Chris asks once they’re settled at their table, around a mouthful of ice cream.

Buck smiles over at him so fondly it makes Eddie’s heart ache. “Yeah, buddy?”

“Are we still gonna be best friends now that you have baby Evan?”

The question cuts Eddie like a knife. He hates that Chris expects people are going to leave him, hates that he and Shannon did that to him. But he also knows Buck would never do the same, especially after the lawsuit; he’d die before he’d turn his back on Chris.

“Christopher Diaz,” Buck says seriously, dropping everything to turn toward Chris and lean in close. “We’re best friends forever. I love Evan, but you will always, _always_ be my number one little man. Okay?”

“Pinky promise?”

“Pinky promise,” Buck agrees, hooking their pinkies together without hesitation.

“Okay,” Chris says with a wide smile, and then Buck is kissing his forehead and pulling him in for a hug.

Eddie’s never loved Buck more than he does in that moment, which is saying a lot, because he spends damn near every second of every day loving him.

On the drive home, Buck rests a hand on Eddie’s knee as he talks to Chris excitedly about the latest book they’ve been reading together. Evan’s cooing happily in his car seat, and the whole thing is so soft and domestic it makes Eddie’s breath catch in his throat. He wants this — carefree, uneventful car rides with his family — all the time.

Maddie calls not long after they get back to the loft. Buck’s preoccupied teaching Chris how to hold the baby and give him his bottle, so Eddie picks up for him as he watches the three of them adoringly.

She says she and Chim just finished up their date night and they’ll be back to pick up Evan soon, and before Eddie realizes what he’s doing, he’s offering for him and Buck to keep him overnight. It’s mostly selfish — he’s not ready to give up the fantasy just yet — but Maddie and Chim could definitely use the break, so it’s not hard to convince them.

Christopher is thrilled at the idea of a sleepover, as is Buck, and they spend the rest of the night watching movies and playing with the baby. It’s an absolutely perfect night; the best Eddie’s had in a long time.

It’s late and both the kids are asleep (Chris sprawled across Buck’s lap and baby Evan wrapped up in Eddie’s arms) when Buck yawns and says “Okay, I think it’s time for bed.”

Eddie hums in agreement. “I’ll stay down here with Chris,” he says, trying to gather enough energy to get up and pull out the couch.

“Nah, that’s okay. The couch sucks, and the bed’s big enough for all of us. Besides, this was your idea, so _you’re_ the one that’s gonna deal with Evan when he starts crying in the middle of the night,” Buck jokes, sticking his tongue out playfully.

Eddie knows he shouldn’t. It’s a terrible idea, one that will undoubtedly break his heart by giving him a taste of something he can’t actually have.

His legs seem to move of their own accord, though, and by the time his brain catches up he’s already followed Buck up the stairs and put Evan in his bassinet.

They tuck Chris in snugly before they settle on either side of him. Buck tangles their legs together under the covers with a content sigh, and Eddie feels completely at ease, like everything he needs in the world is right here in this room with him.

He has to get up four different times to check on the baby, but he loves every minute of it.

When Eddie blinks awake in the morning, Buck has baby Evan laying on his chest. He’s cooing at him and talking to him quietly with wide, excited eyes, and Eddie’s heart melts into a puddle on the spot.

He doesn’t mean to do it. He’s still half asleep, and it’s just instinct as he leans over Chris and presses a trail of gentle kisses to Buck’s birthmark, his cheek, the corner of his mouth.

Buck’s breath hitches, eyes fluttering shut, and Eddie panics. He backs away like he’s been burned.

“Shit, Buck, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

“Get back over here and kiss me for real,” Buck says, cutting Eddie off and pulling him out of his spiral.

Eddie can’t believe this is actually happening — in fact, maybe it’s all just a dream — but he does as he’s told regardless. He’d never turn down a kiss from Buck, real or not.

“You’re not dreaming,” Buck murmurs, reading his mind, and Eddie can’t help but chuckle against his lips.

“You guys kiss now?” Chris asks suddenly around a yawn. They both jump in surprise; they hadn’t realized they had an audience.

Eddie nods, though, and kisses the top of Chris’ head. “Yeah, buddy, we do. Are you okay with that?”

“Yeah. You guys are always happier together,” Chris answers simply, and that’s that. “Can we make pancakes for breakfast, Bucky?”

“As long as your dad doesn’t try to help,” Buck teases, grinning. “Maybe we should put him on baby duty to keep him out of the kitchen, what do you say?”

Eddie pretends to be annoyed, but the lovesick smile glued to his face and the hearts in his eyes don’t really sell it.

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to [send me prompts](https://eddiesdiaz.tumblr.com/ask)!


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